The Aesthetica Creative Writing Award is open for submissions. Now in its eighth year, the award is an internationally renowned prize presented by Aesthetica Magazine and judged by industry experts including Arifa Akbar, literary editor of The Independent. Prizes include £500 and publication in an anthology of new writing, giving you the chance to showcase your work to a wider, international audience.

Prizes include:

£500 Poetry winner

£500 Short Fiction winner

Publication in the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual

One year subscription to Granta

Selection of books courtesy of Bloodaxe and Vintage

Complimentary copy of the Aesthetica Creative Writing Annual

There are two categories for entry: Short Fiction (maximum length 2,000 words each) and Poetry (maximum length 40 lines each).

BIG THINKING ON A SMALL SCALE

The St Albans Writers Festival is bringing a whole world of writing to a little village. Their 2015 program includes Jane Caro, Hugh Mackay, Michael Robotham, Nikki Gemmell, PM Newton and many other established and emerging writers. They come together to create an exciting programme encompassing fiction, crime, historical, speculative, and historical fiction, true crime, fables, social commentary, comedy and travel writing. Both new and established Australian writers will be there and there will be talks, ‘in conversation’ sessions, as well as topic panels to cater to all interests. Of course, you’ll be able to buy books and have them signed by the authors at each session, as well as in our Festival Centre bookshop. There will also be the unique opportunity to share a table with your favourite writer and chat over a coffee in the Festival Centre. Rubbing shoulders with writers is just one of the advantages of being part of this intimate festival.

A few quirks of St Albans
Coming from Sydney, you will have to cross the Hawkesbury by car ferry.
There is no wi-fi or mobile phone service in St Albans village (it stops once you cross the Hawkesbury).

There are no ATMs in the village (the nearest is Wisemans Ferry), so cash up before you arrive! With no internet service we can’t link to credit card services so cash is the way to go.

Each submission must be no more than 1,500 words and follow the theme “The Choices We Make”. It will need to make a reference to alcohol and/or drugs. There is a limit of three entries per person, and the entry fee is $10 per story.

First prizeis $1,000 and a one year membership to Writers Victoria; 2nd prize is $100 and 3rd prize is $50.

Hooray! London women crime writers are finally getting organised – 24 years after their Australian counterparts and nearly 30 after Sara Paretsky formed Sisters in Crime at the Bouchercon in the US in 1986 (not “Sara Paratsky in 1987” , as reported in The Independent on 13 May 2015).

Click here to catch up with the report, “Killer Women festival: The female crime novelists transforming how the publishing industry works”.